Starbuck used coffee grounds

Seakay

Our council does collection for composting, but only for garden waste which would rule out the coffee grounds even if the scheme did extend to businesses.
If there are councils which collect waste for composting and which allow kitchen waste to be included, then they might be amenable to the idea of including coffee shops, perhaps even greengrocers and cafes, on the collection round

Gingernutmeg

^^ it's a good idea, but one that would be difficult to enforce in practice. My mum runs a small village bakery and deli, and we have some really tough rules about waste disposal, particularly food waste. Meat (cooked and raw) in particular is problematic, as we're not supposed to dispose of it in our normal waste, although even our council seem to be having trouble with this one as their policy doesn't really seem to have been enforced yet lol! Also, most shops would be unwilling to divide up their waste to keep the food waste separate - there would be some massive food hygiene/health and safety problems with that one.

Karmacat

Thanks again all

Fen - thanks for the focus on carrots. I'm using my own grounds all over my garden at the moment, putting it out there and mixing with the soil about twice a week. Starbucks main site has this info sheet about the chemical composition of coffee grounds, and they're undoubtedly very good for the soil, as long as you don't overdo it, when they turn into a hardened layer, I believe. My soil needs lots and lots and lots of organic matter - I've dug over maybe 20 square yards and only seen 3 worms in all that time.

Sage - where are you, roughly, and how big are the bags?

Seakay - in my little recycling fantasy, I wasn't thinking of the council doing the recycling, just of using council ground to dump the stuff so that gardeners could come there and collect it. But maybe I'm making it too complex. If other Starbucks branches bag it in their old coffee bean bags and put it in some kind of display pot for customers to pick up at will, ours can do the same.

Gingernutmeg - not an enforcer, me!! And if Starbucks are already providing the stuff ready to be given out to gardeners I think the method is there. Important to know what its like for small scale bakeries and delis tho, like your mum runs, they don't have the luxury of large-scale backing like any branch of Starbucks does.
And I *love*, really *love* your sig!!! Thanks!

Gingernutmeg

I wish there was some kind of local composting scheme, as my Mum would definitely be glad to dispose of food waste if it was collected daily. She already is part of a local 'environmental award' scheme whereby we have to ensure that we're using lo-energy bulbs, recycling a good proportion of our waste and buying a number of our products locally, but a composting scheme would be great. We *used* to give the old bread away at the end of the day to a local woman who had chickens, but we got told off for doing that by the local council because you can no longer give food 'waste' to animals since the foot and mouth crisis ... in fact I think that's why there is so much legislation about food waste now, and why a composting scheme would be impractical

abisnail75

Hmmm.

KNow this happens as my Dad gets grounds for his compost heap from the local coffee shop.

However, it is commercial waste and therefore should be disposed of by legally recognised method (this can include composting/recycling!).

By 'donating' it to customers they are not paying to get rid of their waste (we should get a discount if they are saving money!) and are not complying with legal obligations. KNow I'm a bore but the law is there for a reason...

Karmacat

Oh my word..... they might be breaking the law by not disposing of it by a legally recognised method? I have a friend who works in trading standards in another borough - I should check with her. Thanks for that.

comicmankev

"The law is there for a reason...."

And anyone know the reason? So we can fill up the landfill sites even more and stop anyone from helping each other out. Yes, they may be doing it to save themselves some money, but people like us can make very good use of it, and help the environment, so there's only one person losing out.

The nanny state is the only one losing. They are losing the revenue collected when these companies pay for them to collect it, then dump it wherever they please, or take it out to china with the recycling, burn it off and kill a few people over there.

Sage

Hi Karmacat,
I collect 1kg bag from the Hull Starbucks every other week. I also collect tea and coffee from work up to 2kg a week. I dry the teabags out in the oven when I cook dinner. The worms in my wormerie love it and it helps control the moisture. The rest I dig in my veg patch.

Karmacat

Thanks everyone. Its got to be do-able, when so many other people and branches are doing it, just got to get round there and *do* it. Brilliant!

paddy's_mum

Some research done several years ago by an eminent gardening institution (I forget now which one - RHS?) found that coffee grounds spread fairly thickly around vulnerable plants made a temporary but very effective snail/slug barrier. Apparently, the complex chemicals in coffee that give us a lift are perceived as toxic by slugs and snails.

Hope that helps someone have a lovely display of hostas this year instead of the green lace that I am usually left with when the pests have finished their lunches on my best plants.